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    Fantasy Baseball: Week 25 pitcher Start 'Em & Sit 'Em

    Fantasy baseball expert William Dubiel previews every starting pitching matchups for the upcoming week, with start and sit calls for every game.
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    Unless you've got a roster stacked with high-end pitchers you'll start against any matchup, you'll probably need to keep a close eye on the schedule as you get ready to set your lineup for the upcoming week. You'll need to know which of your starters have bad matchups, which are set for two starts in the upcoming week, and which fringe-y options might just be worth going out to grab on waivers. 

    Which is why you'll definitely want to check out SportsLine's weekly pitching Start 'Em & Sit 'Em chart from William Dubiel. A 15-year Fantasy veteran, Dubiel got his start in Fantasy baseball and has done work for Rotoballer, Metro US and multiple other outlets during his career. He was named the No. 4 MLB Ranker for the 2017 MLB season, so if there's anybody who can give you an edge in your Fantasy baseball league, it's him.

    Now, he's helping you set your pitching lineup each week. William goes through every starting pitcher matchup for the upcoming week, making start and sit picks for each game. Here are some of William's calls for Week 25:

    • Since coming over from the Pirates on July 29th, Jordan Lyles has been a bona fide shot in the arm for the beleaguered Brewers rotation. Their waning playoff hopes may have already been snuffed out if not for the heroics of Lyles, who has pitched to a 4-1 record with a 2.67 ERA across six starts (33.2 IP) since becoming a Brewer. His 87.0 left-on-base percentage, .212 BABIP and 5.11 xFIP all point to regression over the long term — they scream it, in fact. I certainly don't anticipate the 28-year-old being able to maintain his current level of success for very long, but in a two-start week against the Marlins and Cardinals, he should be able to provide the Fantasy stats you're looking for.
    • I was advising you against starting  Mike Foltynewicz the last time his name came up in this column. This time I'm telling you that he should be in your lineups in pen, as he's really begun to show some signs of improvement. In his last five starts, Foltynewicz has gone 2-0 with a 2.96 ERA, which while not incredible is still perfectly usable for Fantasy purposes. The big stride he's taken has been in the home run department. Foltynewicz's injury-riddled 2019 has been marked by his career-high propensity for giving up the long ball. As it stands now, his season mark is 1.96 homers per nine innings pitched, more than a full homer higher than his career-best mark, set during his excellent 2018 campaign (0.84). Across his last five starts (27.1 IP), Foltynewicz has yielded just two homers, and is flashing that ace potential we saw in 2018. It may be too little, too late in many cases, but in a key two-start week against NL East rivals, I'm rolling with Foltynewicz. 
    • Trevor Bauer looked like he had righted the ship in July and early August, but in his last five starts he's regressed to the hit-and-miss commodity that we saw in May and June. Since August 14th (his last five starts) it's been mostly miss — Bauer had the highest ERA of any qualifying starter in the majors (10.80) in that time frame. His strikeout rate was still above average, but the actual total number of strikeouts was down thanks in large part to the fact that he only got out of the fifth inning once. Bauer yielded seven homers in just 23.1 innings while also walking 10, and he's unsurprisingly gone 0-4 as well (if wins and losses matter to you). All but one of those starts (@ WAS) has come against a bottom-half offense (SD, PIT, STL, PHI) so it's not like he's run into a tough stretch of the schedule. I don't trust Bauer in any way right now, and he's a sit for me despite lining up for a two-start week.

    So, how will you know which other pitchers to start and which to avoid? ... Join SportsLine right now to get access to the tools and date that can help you make the right decision!

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    William Dubiel

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